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"Hmmm," Kolris says, a bit confused. "More imagery of this strange, otherworldly religion. Like nothing I've ever seen on Golarion. Odd." But he lifts the mask with great interest. "This, however, if an Ulfen funerary mask. I don't know if it will be useful here, but I bet the Ripper would be very interested in it."
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"Dudes, nicely done!" Kai declares enthusiastically as he slaps his fluke on the floor in triumph. He hops around the gore and slushy bits of rotten and frozen Ulfen toward the next ladder leading up.
As he passes Khorshid, he notices the would on the gnome's shoulder. "You okay there, dude? Need a hit from the happy stick?" he asks brandishing the wand he drew earlier with a little flourish.
"Who's gonna go first?" he asks, though he makes space for Lucky and Kolris to lead the way.
Lucky leads the others up the bow ladderway, blinking as the soft glow of sunlight penetrates a new ice cave, mirroring the one in the stern of the main deck. Several braziers also burn near the walls, providing more light and a hint of warmth.
A beautiful woman stands next to a simple chair, facing you. Other furniture in the chamber suggests that this is her private quarters.
A white raven perches on the woman’s shoulder, observing Lucky with strangely intelligent eyes.
The cold woman looks you over as one would a home invader. “Oh, another … and one more.”
“No please, have a good look around, merman. Is this the first lady’s boudoir you’ve visited?”
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"First time? Nah, not by a long shot. But first time with someone as beautiful as you."
The merman does indeed gawk a little bit, but not at the nearly naked woman or her strange bird, but rather at how small the living space is.
Not wearing much clothes. Maybe she needs someone to keep her warm. Oh, wait, she lives here like this. Guess she's used to it. Still....
"I'm Kai. You? Those dudes downstairs work for you or something?"
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Lucky looks right back at the raven.
I got your number, bird. Your mistress is some sort of ice-witch, ain't she?
Lucky keeps his suspicions to himself and bows to the woman. "Unexpected is right ma'am. I've certainly never met a lady who made her home on a frozen ship inside a tapestry before. First time for everything, eh?"
The halfling knight tries to keep his tone light. Maybe she's responsible for all this. Or maybe she's a victim.
“I am Natalya Yagevna, widow of the Jarl Haldyr Bjornsson, slayer of the Ice Wyrm, Frozzintin.”
She looks the six of you over, apparently not very impressed. “You met my late husband in the ship’s hold, nyet?”
"Those dudes downstairs work for you or something?"
“I do not exert direct control over the undead. However, they know better than to disturb me or go against my wishes.”
"An odd place to live... for the living at least. How's that going for you?"
“Not well.”
'Fru Bjornsson' warms somewhat to Kolris and Lucky’s manner. “This ship is part of my dowry. I didn’t realize when my husband passed, me and all of my possessions were expected to join him in the Ulfen barbarians’ afterlife.”
“With only my dead husband’s body and his drug-addled beserker honor guard aboard, I was certain to have perished in the next storm, when I was rescued by one Skëlg the Ripper, who gave me control of my own ship and my destiny.”
“However, the Ripper seized the funerary tribute and my greatest prize – the Beacon of the North.”
She points at the lantern in Kolris’ hands. “Which you have no doubt seen fit to return to me. Thank-you.”
“You see without the Beacon, scant days later the ship became encased in an ice mountain and worse, my husband rose as an undead abomination, taking control of the Winter Walkers, and leaving me trapped here!”
“One of Skëlg’s men arrived shortly after, presumably to rescue me, before being overwhelmed and transformed like the others in the hold.”
She returns the storyline to the present deftly. “I expect you have risked you lives for some service I can offer? If so, I would have you name it.”
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Khorshid is clearly very surprised.
”Well, this is an unbelievably peculiar situation! Fantastic story! And you are very hot although it is incredibly cold here! So we are on a mission to be honest! And we need you to tell us if you know anything about an illness that makes people cold and there nothing to be done about it!“ he says with a smile.
”Skëlg the Ripper has this illness and we want him cured!!“
"Did one of you shine the Beacon of the North on Skëlg?"
Natalya gives Kai a questioning look. "If so, it is not an illness he suffers from, but a curse. And fortunately one I am familiar with."
"The Ripper and the Beacon must be brought here to me, for both are integral to the ritual that lifts the curse."
"However, in return for my efforts, I require three small things from you:
- Ownership of The Beacon of the North
- My freedom from the ice, and
- A permanent ... travelling companion."
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"What an epic story! I'm writing a song about this. Condemned to die, saved by an unrequited love, trapped in magical ice. Truly epic."
He starts humming a tune as he ponders both lyrics and the situation. Which seems simple enough.
"Natalya, you think Skëlg would want to travel with you? I mean, I think any man would be honored to, but I don't know Ulfens and their traditions and rules and such very well."
He turns to his companions to consult. "I say we give her the lamp and go talk to Skëlg. (Cause what kind of a man wouldn't want to travel with her?)"
But then he pauses as something occurs to him, and he turns back to Natalya. "Uhh, how do we do the whole "freedom from the ice" part?"
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"It wasn't us turned the lamp on Skëlg, it was the doing of one Bengeirr Haldyrsson, or one of his men. They are no longer a threat. Haldyrsson had some sort of feud with Skëlg." Lucky answers Natalya.
"If Hestram is really best buds with the Ripper, he'd rather have his friend back than a magic trinket. And if Skëlg decides to go sailing off with this lady, I suspect that his friend Hestram would understand his reasons".
"Do you know how long you've been here? Bengeirr looked a lot like your deceased husband, but I can't tell if they're brothers or ancestor and descendant."
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"I believe we can bring Skelg back here; we'd obviously need to take the Beacon with us for that, or we couldn't return with him to you." Kolris points out. "We'd also need assurance that you would open the portal for us to return to Absalom when this is all over." He pauses briefly for her confirmation, but continues quickly, not expecting that to be a sticking point.
"Do you perhaps have more oil for it? I did some experimenting when we arrived to make sure I understood how it worked, and consumed a fair bit in just lighting and relighting it."
"Natalya, you think Skëlg would want to travel with you?"
“Perhaps you should ask him.”
"Do you know how long you've been here? Bengeirr looked a lot like your deceased husband, but I can't tell if they're brothers or ancestor and descendant."
“Sealed in the ice? Weeks rather than days, I’d say. All of them an incredible bore.”
Natalya screws up her nose at the mention of Bengeirr’s name. “Bengeirr Haldyrsson is my late husband’s son – though naturally I am not his mother.”
“There was never any love lost between us. Indeed, Bengeirr was one of the oafs that condemned me to this funerary voyage.”
"Haldyrsson had some sort of feud with Skëlg."
“Yes, I am aware.”
Natalya stifles a *yawn* “Some tedious Ulfen slight over a farm animal, no doubt. Probably imagined.”
"We'd also need assurance that you would open the portal for us to return to Absalom when this is all over."
The noble woman waves a hand. “Naturally. The fewer needy, fawning males I have to contend with, the better.”
"Do you perhaps have more oil for it?"
“I can distil more if it comes to that, though it will take time.”
She points at the Beacon and makes a give-it-here gesture with her right hand.
After a quick shake of the lantern she concludes, “If you don’t do any more ‘experimenting’ beyond that which is necessary to bring Skëlg here and return yourselves to Absalom, there should be sufficient left.”
“It was sensible of you to extinguish the lantern to conserve oil while aboard ship.”
"I can't say I'm impressed with a tradition that consigns a living widow to a husband's grave."
“You and me both, Little One. Now how about the tiefling and shy gnome stay to entertain me, while you others go and fetch Skëlg?”
Natalya hands the Beacon back to Kolris, “As a token of goodwill. But I implore you – please don’t keep me waiting long.”
♨
Assuming you are all amenable to Natalya’s proposal, the Beacon can be relit freeing Lucky, Kai, Khorshid and Korlis to return to Greydog Manor.
After discovering the halfling butler Tyros asleep in an armchair beside Skëlg’s bedroom door, you enter the Master Chamber to find the Ripper still shivers uncontrollably under the covers.
He looks up hopefully as you enter. “Y-y-y-y-you're b-b-b-back! D-d-d-d-o you h-h-h-have a c-c-c-c-cure?”
Natalya smiles for the first time, gesturing at the ice that separates her cabin from the upper deck, where the longship’s dragon-prow is located.
“I have picks that can be used to manually remove the ice. Otherwise, perhaps you can employ magic to achieve the same objective?”
“I can ✨conjure small balls of fire to aid your efforts. What say you?”
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Khorshid is clearly disgusted by the weakness that Skelg shows.
"Yeahh, you need to come with us Mr. Ripper. The boat in the tapestry still has the cold bride trapped in her ship and you will only be healed of the curse afflicting you if you are reasonable, get out of bed and accompany us!" he says with a raised eyebrow.
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"N-n-nataly-y-a Y-y-yagevn-n-na? H-h-hald-d-dyr's w-w-widow?"
Skelg seems confused for a moment, then gives a barely visible shrug. "I-I w-w-w-wouldn’t m-m-mind c-c-cozying up t-to h-h-her to g-g-g-get c-c-cured."
He nods, and that seems the extent of his energy. “S-s-sorry f-f-fellow P-P-ath-f-f-finders. I-I-I am g-g-gonna n-n-need h-h-help.”
❄
With that, you can help him out of bed and down to the Tapestry room, where you can half-carry, half-drag him through the portal, into the hold and back up the bow companionway to rejoin Natalya, Drelluandast and Papa Òxọ́lé.
The trio have been busy while you’ve been away, with a narrow ice tunnel carved from Lady Yagevna’s quarters towards the forecastle above.
Indeed, the Cold Widow is directing a ball of fire to melt through the ice around the ship’s prow as you arrive.
And you figure it isn’t the first of the day she has conjured.
“Ah, you have returned with my Sweet Ripper. Come to me, Skëlg dah-ling.”
Natalya takes the lantern, lights it once more and places it on its hook at the front of the ship. She then opens her arms for an embrace and passionate kiss from the Ripper.
As the pair come up for air, the woman’s eyes roll back in her head as she recites numerous flowing words of Power.
In the cold reflection of the Beacon, Skëlg begins to SCREAM before his din is suddenly choked off, as a pair of miniature fiends climb out of his gullet and down onto his shoulders.
One trails streamers of frozen bodily humors like a puppet’s broken strings, while the second has parts of its face and limbs missing. These are replaced with swirling clouds of mist.
The devils shiver momentarily, before Natalya magically propels their tiny bodies through the icy mass surrounding the longship, destroying them instantly.
As the Beacon’s ❄cold❄ beam of light shines in front of the ship, you hear the ice begin to crack. A few moments later it starts to fall away, and you feel the ship moving forward. A new portal opens a half-mile in the distance, and through it you make out a cold harbor.
Skëlg ceases shivering, as if freeing the ship also freed him. "Thank you, my friends. I shall remember what you have done for me. Please convey my thanks to Adril Hestram as well."
From beside the Ripper, Natalya announces. “I am satisfied with my travelling companion and delighted with my freedom.”
“The harbour you can see through the portal is my home port of Whitethrone, Irrisen. With the Beacon of the North on my ship’s prow I can be back home within minutes.”
“However, I owe something to you for what you have done for me – for US!” She takes Skëlg's hand. “So I put it to you to choose.”
She smiles warmly. “You may return to your home safely, while allowing me to keep the Beacon of the North, so I may return to my home immediately.”
“Or take the Beacon for yourselves, leaving Skëlg and I to risk sailing up the Varisian coast for several months, before we can return home.”
“The choice is yours.”
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"Quite the show. I'd love to learn that trick, or at least how you combine those tongues."
He turns to the group. "We were specifically asked to bring back any interesting objects we found, and I think with Adril's sparring partner... otherwise occupied... I would prefer not to show up at the Lodge empty-handed."
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These two clearly have history. A 'slight over a farm animal', my arse.
In awe of the witch's display of magical prowess, Lucky decides that any remarks regarding possible infidelity would be unwise.
"Papa makes a fair point. I suspect that between your magic, my Lady, and Skëlg's seamanship, you'll have no trouble reaching Whitethrone intact and soon enough." And I don't think you pair are in any need of charity.
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"I dunno, dudes. Skelg's a Pathfinder, too. I think it's fair to let him and the fiiiine lady keep the thing. You really think Adril's gonna ding us for leavin' it with his best bro? How's he gonna feel if they die in the journey up the coast so some magic lamp could go sit in a vault?"
"And we're not empty handed. We got that freaky-deaky mask from Bengeirr. That's gotta count for something."
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Drelluandast nods one last time as Kai speaks, then puts a hand around the back of his neck. “Kai’s right - their safety is important. It would be terrible if we saved Skelg once only to have sent him on a trip where he and Natalya died. And they can always return the lantern to the Lodge when they get back!”
“I’ve got this one, my Special Snowflake.”
Skëlg is either smitten, or doing the Best Job EVA of making the best of things. “That won’t really work, you see.”
“Once the ship’s through the new portal, it will be thousands of miles north of ‘our’ original portal, which is situated 20 feet off the sea surface, somewhere off the coast of Varisia, leading back to Greydog Manor.”
“The Beacon’s light simply won’t shine that far to activate the original portal.”
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"The mission's the mission, and with The Ripper staying, we're already going to be in Adril's sour graces. After having seen your magic, it's not something I'd want to fight you for, but the Beacon is going to go a long way towards smoothing things over with the brass, if you know what I mean." Kolris holds out his hand for the Beacon of the North.
"If it's something you're willing to part with, I'm definitely inclined to take it with us. I'm sure you'll find ways to occupy yourselves on the journey home," he adds with a wink.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Pathfinders. Look me up in Irrisen if you come north."
The Ripper shakes everyone's hand and thanks you for your efforts.
Natalya hesitates before removing the Beacon from the ship’s prow. She hands the artefact to Korlis ... reluctantly. The portal to Irrisen’s frigid capital, now tantalizingly close *snaps* shut.
"Let’s hope I can do the same for you one day."
☀
Stepping into the familiar surrounds of Skëlg's drawing room in Summery Absalom, you are confident you made the right choice.
On the mat in front of Adril Hestram back at the Grand Lodge, may give you pause …
"So you sold Pathfinder Agent Skëlg the Ripper into marriage, and then let him live ✌ happily ever after ✌ in the clutches of an Ice Witch in Irrisen!!"
VC Hestram is not best pleased, the words coming through biting teeth. "Skëlg promised to reward the Society with relics recovered on his travels. I am quite sure I mentioned this.”
“But still you took a vote, which was SPLIT 4:2 on whether you should return a magical lantern capable of freezing a man from within, covering an entire ship in ice, and creating giant portals for traveling, to the Grand Lodge for safekeeping? Argh!! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
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"Duuude, enough of the aggro. Skelg ain't no grommet. By the time we bailed, he was stoked to be chargin' that curl. And you did. not. see. that ice witch."
"Wait, she was a witch?" he asks the others, obviously just now realizing this fact. "Cool."
"But, honestly, Cap'n, I dunno what it is you're all crashin' about, and seems like you've gone shubie on us. So .... I'm out. Peeeeace!" the merman says with a smile as he waddles out the door flashing shaka at the VC and singing his new epic song.
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On his way out Khorshid shakes his head at the others’ behavior.
”I sincerely apologize venture captain for the insubordination of these pathfinders and please be assured that I had your words and aims in mind the whole time! And my name is Khorshid - just in case you want to note that somewhere as I’m such role model for others. But we’ll talk later!!!“ the purple gray haired gnome says while obediently leaving the office.
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Lucky glares at Khorshid - not for the first time. Role model, my hairy arse.
"I'm sure Skëlg never bothered to tell you, Venture-Captain, that he and the Yavgena woman have history. He went with her willingly. Very willingly. And had he not, he'd be dead now from the curse of the Beacon. Your friend lives, and if you want him to make good on his promise send word to him in Whitethrone. Better yet, pay him a visit and see for yourself whether he's dissatisfied with our work.
If you'll excuse me sir, I have an appointment with Master Farabellus."
Lucky bows to the irate VC and to his fellows, then departs.